HighRollers: Lightfall/Episode 43
"Teleportation Evaluation" is the forty-third episode of the Lightfall campaign for High Rollers D&D. It was broadcast live on the Yogscast Twitch channel on April 2, 2017. With Matthew Toffolo absent for this episode, Tom Hazell joins as a special guest. In this episode, our heroes believe that they are under-prepared for their mission despite Cam and Alfred now helping them. As such, they decide to retreat back to Talis'Val for the time being. Campaign Summary Cam's Business At a brothel somewhere in Talis'Val, Cam is laying on a bed in his own room after several days of gigolo business. A knock on the door and a young male messenger enters the room with a message from Korak the Champion. In the short message, Korak summons Cam to meet him at Champion's Hold for a mission. After a shower, Cam wears his clothes and follow the messenger to meet Korak. Cam is brought to a small garden at the centre of Champion's Hold, where he sees Korak the Champion chatting with two other people. One of them is Lady Amirilith. The other is an elder, chubby male half-elf later introduced as Alfred Gluvis, Master of Conjuration and a member of the Arcane Brotherhood. Korak first lets Cam know that his companions, Elora and Jiǔtóu, were tasked by the Council and himself a few days ago to investigate possible Broken Sky activities happening within Velderbann. He also tells Cam of the guild and stipend the Council is willing to offer to him and his companions. Korak hopes that Cam is now free to assist them. Cam says he is, so Korak informs him that Alfred have a way to bring him there quickly as he has been learning the arts of teleportation. Alfred was about to explain how it works but Cam stops him since time is of the essence. Using Jiǔtóu's Korak the Champion action figure as a point of reference, Alfred then begins the spell to teleport Cam and himself to where Elora and Jiǔtóu are. Scout Party Elora, Jiǔtóu and Reynard are resting at an abandoned hunters' camp in a glade within the outskirts of Velderbann when a 'pop' sound is heard. Out of nowhere, a figure suddenly appears within the camp. Elora and Reynard instinctively draw their weapon in case of enemies but Elora soon recognises that it is Cam, who throws up due to the effect of the teleportation. She then informs Reynard that he is a friend. The sound of groans can be heard, in which Cam realises that it is Alfred. He goes over to him and finds out that he fell from the trees and landed on the ground hard. Cam helps him up and brings him over to the rest. From there, everyone introduce themselves respectively, though Reynard is flabbergasted that he was compared by Jiǔtóu earlier that Cam is supposedly better than him yet he saw Cam as a bumbling fool. Separately, Alfred tells everyone that, given his frail state, he prefers to sit out and be in a safe spot until they need to teleport back to Talis'Val, adding that it can only be cast instantly once per day. Just then, everyone hear sounds of animal fleeing coming from the direction of the river, the same path they took when escaping from the Broken Sky agents hours ago. Cam jumps into a nearby bush to hide, while Elora and later Alfred hide together in another bush. At the same time, both Jiǔtóu and Reynard climb up two separate trees, with Reynard climbing further up to the top of the tree. Elora, Jiǔtóu and Reynard are then able to determine that there are about three to six people present, as well as the hawk from the watchtower earlier. A few moments past and then there is silent. Cam shouts out that he thinks that whoever is it is now gone. At that point, rustling can be heard again. Cam then feels a cold steel pressed on the back of his neck, with the person telling him to keep quiet. However, Cam's refusal to so leads into a combat as the person swings his sword at Cam. Fortunately, Cam dodges in time to avoid taking the full hit. Now facing the attacker, Cam immediately notices the tattoo of the Broken Sky on the attacker's arm. Elora and Reynard both see Cam reacting to something but is unable to see the attacker. First Round of Combat The agent then cast Suggestion on Cam to suggest him to be quiet and come with them. However, Cam resists it. Reynard swings to another tree, allowing him to get a view of the attacker. He then jumps off the tree and lands on the attacker, knocking him prone. Another person emerges from the foliage. This time, it is one of the Broken Sky captains. He tries to leap on Reynard but misses, so he draws out his longsword and orders his men to attack. Jiǔtóu takes her chance and charges at the captain, dealing several swipes at him. Elora now sees three more Broken Sky agents, so she tells Alfred to remain hidden which he agrees. Seeing that the captain is wearing a metal armour, she casts Heat Metal on him. She then shape-shifts into a giant scorpion and stand between them and the bush she just came out from. Two of the three agents then attack Jiǔtóu, with the third casting Thunderwave from his tattoo at the giant scorpion. Cam squats down to the prone agent and stabs him with his dagger Nimbus. He then casts Spiritual Weapon, summoning a staff with a middle finger at the top. Meanwhile, Alfred casts Mage Armour on himself, then runs and hide a tree. Second Round of Combat The prone agent tries to stab Reynard, who is pinning him down, but misses. Seeing the captain's armour glowing hot, Reynard rolls off the agent and kicks him towards the heated armour. This results in the agent having his clothes catching on fire and eventually succumbs to his injuries. Reynard then stands up. Enraged, the captain cast Lightning Bolt from his tattoo towards Cam and Reynard. Reynard dodges it but Cam takes to the full hit. The captain's attack, however, allows Jiǔtóu to attack him. Jiǔtóu then runs up behind an agent and attacks him several times. The giant scorpion continues to concentrate Heat Metal on the captain, resulting in him burning to death. She then attacks an agent to death with her pincers and stinger. The two remaining agents both attack Jiǔtóu. Despite their combined efforts, they only manage to hit her once. Cam moves his spectral sword up to point the middle finger at the agent before attacking him. However, this allows the agent to move out of the way in time. Cam then throws the dagger Nimbus at him. The dagger penetrates the agent's collarbone, then coalesces back into Cam's hand. Cam then licks the blood off the dagger, which causes the agent to become terrified. From behind the tree, Alfred casts Magic Missile, which kills one more agent. At this time, Elora, Jiǔtóu and Reynard all see three winged creatures with a person on each creature coming from the town towards them. Third Round of Combat As Reynard turns to look at the horizon to see the three approaching winged creatures, he intentionally nudges Cam. Cam dodges it but gets knocked by the crossbow when Reynard turns back to his original position. Reynard then fires two shots from his crossbow to kill the last agent. End of Combat Battle against the Gryphons Cam argues at Reynard for injuring him earlier. As they continue to bicker, both Jiǔtóu and the giant scorpion tell them to stop as they pointed out to the three winged creatures coming towards their direction. Now having a clearer view, the winged creatures are gryphons. Also, following behind them is Gregor, a fire giant, riding on a chariot pulled by two gryphons. Reynard tries to cast Hunter's Mark on Gregor but he is too far away from it to do so. The group decide to flee the forest they are in and begin to dash towards the mines, where some of them know that it is where the captured people of Velderbann are at. The giant scorpion aids Alfred by putting him on her back. First Round of Combat As they are running, however, the three gryphons catch up to them, initiating a chasing combat. On the gryphons are a rider each, all Broken Sky agents with the centre being the captain. Cam intends to cast Polymorph on the centre gryphon once it is within range. The giant scorpion move to the right to increase the distance between the gryphons and Alfred to prevent any harm on him. Jiǔtóu follows her and asks Alfred if he can teleport them out of the battle now or later should they be captured. Alfred replies to say that he can but he need to stay in a spot for 10 minutes in order to do so. Alfred later casts Stinking Cloud near one of the gryphons, causing it and its rider to retch and reel. The captain too suffers its effect. Now within range, Cam cast Polymorph at the captain's gryphon and morphs it into a raccoon. Both the raccoon and the captain then fall 90 feet to the ground and suffer severe injury, to the point where the raccoon morphs back into its gryphon self. The only unaffected agent rides its gryphon closer his closest targets, which are Cam and Reynard. The gryphon then attacks Cam, while the agent fires several shot from its crossbow to moderate success. In turn, Reynard comes to a sliding stop to activate a Hail of Thorns device at the gryphon and its rider, injuring both of them. Second Round of Combat Cam teleports himself to where Alfred, Jiǔtóu and the giant scorpion are at via Dimension Door. After which, both Jiǔtóu and the giant scorpion divert to the gryphon and attempts to attack it. The giant scorpion only manages to sting it however and Jiǔtóu, despite leaping off the body of the scorpion, fails to get on the gryphon to attack the rider but manages to hit the gryphon once. Meanwhile, Alfred casts Wall of Force around the captain and his gryphon. The only active agent attacks Reynard with his crossbow, while his gryphon pecks at Jiǔtóu. Both attacks are largely unsuccessfully. Seeing what Jiǔtóu attempted earlier, Reynard leaps off the giant scorpion's back and manages to land on the gryphon. He then wrestles with the agent and gets hold of the rein, forcing the gryphon to move away. As a result, both Jiǔtóu and the scorpion get the opportunity to attack it with success. The gryphon shrieks loudly before collapsing to the ground. Both the agent and Reynard jump off it, avoiding severe damage from the fall. End of Combat The Waiting Game Cam asks Alfred of his teleportation spell, in which he also replies that he needs 10 minutes of uninterrupted casting time to do so. Alfred, however, suggests to Cam that they can Dimension Door away to rest. Cam likes the idea so he casts the spell to bring himself and Alfred 500 feet forward. Once on the other side, both of them spot a farmhouse nearby and attempt to signal to the rest about it. The giant scorpion scoops Reynard onto her back and dashes forward along with Jiǔtóu as the three attempt to flee the battle. Eventually seeing Cam pointing towards the farmhouse, the group run towards it. At the farmhouse, they find that both the front door and cellar door are locked. Nearby is a barn with its door open. Cam was about to start picking the lock of the front door but Elora, after shape-shifting back to herself, beats him to it. Just as Elora manages to unlock the front door, Reynard breaks a glass window and climbs into the house. Jiǔtóu clears the glass before entering the house. Elora then casts Pass without a Trace on everyone. Quickly checking the house, there are no signs of Broken Sky activities. In fact, it looks like the house has been not been visited for some time. They then draw all curtains, Alfred fix the broken window with his Mending spell, and all of them hide in the cellar, which is full of farming equipment. A few minutes passes and the group all hear a loud thud, as if someone huge has landed. At first there are muffled chatters, then banging on the door. Sounds of wood splintering follows after, then footsteps can be heard walking all over the wooden flooring above. Smelling the pungent manure within the cellar, the group have an idea to stack them near the cellar door so as to fend off anyone from entering the cellar. Their tactic works as a couple of people upstairs tell the others to avoid the cellar. A tense 15 minutes of waiting goes by as the group nervously wait for whoever is upstairs to go away. All this time, Reynard places his ears on the support beams and can confirm that a giant is actively walking around the area. Just then, a loud smash can be heard, followed by sounds of bricks falling to the ground. Another 45 minutes passes before silence returned to the area. Retreat Feeling under prepared, Jiǔtóu feels that they should retreat back to Talis'Val to regroup and re-prepare before coming back to Velderbann to complete their mission. Everyone eventually agree, though Reynard is a bit hesitant as he thinks that, now with Alfred and Cam are around, they are stronger to face the enemy. Jiǔtóu tells him otherwise by subtly hinting to Reynard of his true capability. Alfred begins to scribe on the floor, explaining that this circle will be used one time to teleport them back to his room in Champion's Hold. He have another location that they can teleport to, the Arcane Brotherhood chamber in Firstlight, but Cam, Elora and Jiǔtóu are against this idea, since they believe Firstlight is now under control by the Broken Sky. After 10 minutes, the circle is ready. Since they group plan to return in this same place the next day, Alfred takes out his reading glasses and places it at the centre of the room as reference. Both Cam and Elora are worried that the reading glasses can be taken away by anyone who finds it, though Alfred warns them that should it be hidden, there could be a possibility that a person may teleport into a wall or object and can die. With everyone ready, Alfred activates the spell, causing a portal to appear. All five of them walk through the portal and emerge inside a room full of books. The portal then closes and disappear. Alfred then pulls a book, opening a section of the wall to show a typical corridor of Champion's Hold. Cam, Elora, Jiǔtóu and Reynard then leave the room but not before Alfred requests then to bring Lady Amirilith over to heal him. Before the group can do anything, Cam stops all of them to ask Elora and Jiǔtóu on why is Reynard with them. This results in another bickering between Cam and Reynard. Jiǔtóu eventually becomes annoyed and walk away, intending to find Korak the Champion at his office. Reynard follows her, leaving Cam and Elora to walk behind them. Upon reaching the Champion's office, Jiǔtóu enters but asks Reynard to wait outside. When Elora arrives shortly after, she also asks Cam to wait outside as she walks in. Both Elora and Jiǔtóu then tell Korak that they want to update him about the Velderbann mission and why they had failed. Knowing that both Cam and Reynard are outside, Korak also requests them two to enter. Elora and Jiǔtóu inform Korak the Champion on the status of Velderbann, in which the Broken Sky had seized control of it and what they had done to the populace. They also inform Korak of two fire giants who are managing the operation, as well as confirmed sighting of a roc. These made Korak worried and he thinks of ways to help Velderbann, including either launching a military offensive or sending more soldiers to aid the group. However, Cam points out that sending more city guards to Velderbann may weaken the military numbers protecting the constantly attacked capital of Talis'Val. Before discussion about making preparations to re-enter Velderbann, Jiǔtóu requests both Cam and Reynard to leave the office momentarily. The two initially refuse but eventually leave the office by request from Korak the Champion. Reynard then leaves to do something, while Cam remain behind and attempt to listen in through the door. With both Cam and Reynard gone, Jiǔtóu lets Korak know of Reynard's true nature, of how he is not a great hunter as Reynard claimed. Jiǔtóu though later complements Reynard for bucking up and fighting better after both she and Elora confronted him about it. Yet, Jiǔtóu says that it is because of Reynard that she felt that they are under prepared for the mission. To this, Korak comments that the Council will be disappointed if they find out the truth and adds that Reynard's uncle is truly a great hunter. Jiǔtóu acknowledges this, saying that she thinks Reynard do want to honour his uncle. In any case, Korak assures Jiǔtóu that he will not inform the Council about Reynard but will do so if he steps out of line again. Nonetheless, both Elora and Jiǔtóu express that they do want to complete the mission given to them but will need a day to be better prepared for the upcoming conflict. Jiǔtóu asks Korak if he have any large creature they can aid them but Korak says that they do not have such ally. She then asks if Lady Amirilith can assists them but Korak, knowing that Lady Amirilith is a platinum dragon that he revere, recommends them not to. Still, Korak lets them know that he will provide them with resources needed whenever possible. With that, Elora and Jiǔtóu leave the office, rejoins Cam and they all return back to their suite to rest. However, they did asks Cam on where Reynard went but Cam is not sure. Fans of Reynard After asking around, especially with the Guild of Carpenters, Reynard arrives at the main gates of Galin Glimmerstein's manor house. Informing the guards that he is here to seek Galin, they let him in after checking with the owner of the house. Once inside, Galin welcomes Reynard with open arms and thanks him profusely for saving his daughter's life, Dalia. Reynard requests to see Dalia, so Galin go and find her. She enters the hall, carrying with her various canvases of drawing of the day Reynard saved her life. Feeling delighted that he did have a genuine fan, Reynard intends to show this by bringing her to see Korak the Champion, so he asks Dalia if she would like to meet the Champion in person. Both Dalia and Galin are pleasantly surprised and accept his offer, so Reynard brings them to Champion's Hold but not before asking Dalia to bring her friends along. A while later, back at the suite, Cam, Elora and Jiǔtóu are resting for the day when they then hear chants coming from outside. Wandering what the commotion is about, Elora steps out of the suite and looks over the parapet to see a group of 10 to 15 children following a man in front, with another man behind the group. The children are all chanting Reynard's name. Jiǔtóu walks over as Elora asks a lady if she knows what is happening. Upon hearing the lady says that it is something about a man who saved a girl's life, both Elora and Jiǔtóu instantly know that it is Reynard and the girl they saved. With that, the two decide to follow where the group are heading to. Cam reluctantly follows right behind. Reynard brings the children to the Champion's office, to which the secretary becomes puzzled. Reynard informs her that he wants to bring the children to see Korak the Champion. The secretary first walk inside the office to let Korak know, then comes out to say only Reynard and Galin can enter. Once the two enter the office, Reynard tells Korak that he wish to let him know of the children who want to praise him. Korak then allows the children to enter. The children are all happy to see Korak the Champion in person. Cam, Elora and Jiǔtóu then arrive in time, though remaining outside the office, to hear Dalia recounts the day Reynard and "two ladies" who saved her life, accompanied by the drawings that illustrated the event. After Dalia finishes her tale, Jiǔtóu becomes increasingly furious at Reynard. Korak first tell Reynard that Jiǔtóu spoke quite highly about him. He then gently entertain the children and praises Dalia's artworks. Wanting to speak to Reynard regarding this, Korak then tells the children that he will now need to speak to Reynard private about a secret mission. The children then leaves in happiness as Galin follows them behind. Dalia sees Elora and Jiǔtóu on the way out and exchange greetings. Korak to also manage to get a quick glance of Cam, Elora and an enraged Jiǔtóu. Now that Korak and Reynard are alone, Korak puts his muscular arm around Reynard's shoulder. Reynard tells Korak that what he did just now was to simply wanting to let him know of his fans. Korak then tells Reynard of his adventuring days, particularly on how he fondly remembers the look of pain and horror as he defeats the people who took advantage of the works of him and his companions by claiming that they did it in order to gain position of power. Korak then comments on Reynard's "heroic and great" deeds at Velderbann before asking him to return there to complete the mission well. To this, Reynard wagers at Korak to say that, if he is in their position, he too would have flee. Korak acknowledges this but tells Reynard that the world needs no more liars and charlatans. After this, Korak waves to Cam, Elora and Jiǔtóu who is glaring at Reynard. Asking Reynard if he have a place to rest, to which he answers no, Korak then offers him a suite next to the three. All four of them then head back to their respective suite together but Jiǔtóu first wants to have a word with Reynard. Featured Characters The Adventurers * Cam Buckland * Elora Galanodel * Jiutou Zhiji Jing New Appeared * Alfred Gluvis[spelling?] * Messenger for Korak the Champion Returning Appeared * Amirilith * Dalia Glimmerstein[spelling?] * Galin Glimmerstein[spelling?] * Gregor * Helena, Secretary for Korak the Champion * Korak the Champion * Reynard Ferehorn * Dalia's friends * Glimmerstein Manor guards * Several Broken Sky captains * Several Broken Sky agents Mentioned * Durmont Vigil * Ela[spelling?] * Ethan[spelling?] * Reynard's uncle Notable Moments * Agent sees Cam in hiding and puts a sword to the back of Cam's neck. Agent: (whispering) Don't make a fucking sound. Cam: (out loud) Okay! Agent: (whispering) I said be quiet! Don't make a sound. Cam: (out loud) Got it! Agent then attacks Cam. - The agent threatening Cam to be quiet. Trivia References Category:High Rollers D&D